Protein and amino acids for horses are essential for building and maintaining muscle mass, supporting recovery after exercise, and promoting normal growth. An adequate protein supply is particularly important for performance horses, growing horses, and horses that need to develop or maintain muscle mass.
It is not only the quantity of protein that matters, but also its quality and the availability of essential amino acids, such as lysine, methionine, and threonine. These amino acids are the building blocks of muscles and other body tissues.
Explore our supplements containing essential amino acids for targeted nutritional support of muscle development and the maintenance of healthy muscle mass.
Showing all 2 results
Protein and amino acids for horses
Protein plays an essential role in the development, maintenance, and repair of body tissues. It is required for muscles, tendons, enzymes, and numerous physiological processes.
Proteins consist of amino acids. During digestion, dietary proteins are broken down into smaller components, allowing the horse to absorb amino acids and use them to synthesize its own proteins.
An adequate supply of high-quality protein is particularly important for performance horses undergoing intensive training, growing horses, and horses that need to develop or maintain muscle mass.
Why are essential amino acids important?
Horses cannot synthesize all the amino acids required by their bodies. These essential amino acids must therefore be supplied in sufficient amounts through the diet.
Three amino acids deserve particular attention:
- Lysine: Often the first limiting amino acid in equine diets. It plays a central role in protein synthesis and muscle development.
- Methionine: Important for protein synthesis and the formation of various compounds required for normal physiological functions.
- Threonine: Contributes to body protein synthesis and is also important for normal intestinal function.
When one essential amino acid is insufficient, protein synthesis may be limited, even when the total amount of dietary protein appears adequate.
Protein for muscle development in performance horses
During training, muscles are continuously challenged and adapt to the demands of exercise. Proper muscle development requires sufficient energy, high-quality protein, and a balanced supply of essential amino acids.
However, feeding more protein does not automatically result in greater muscle mass. Protein digestibility and amino acid composition are particularly important in determining how effectively a horse can utilize dietary protein.
Myostem Mass: essential amino acids for muscle development
Audevard Myostem Mass is a complementary feed specifically developed to provide nutritional support for muscle development in horses.
Its formula supplies high-quality protein and a range of amino acids, including lysine, leucine, isoleucine, valine, methionine, and threonine.
Myostem Mass is particularly interesting for performance horses undergoing muscle development, growing horses, older horses that have difficulty maintaining muscle mass, and horses returning to work after a period of rest.
The supplement is available in 2.1 kg and 6 kg containers.
HP Muscle: high-quality protein in a specialized feed
HP Muscle by Health & Performance is a specially formulated dietary feed combining high-quality protein sources with vegetable fats, selected fibers, vitamins, and minerals.
It provides proteins with a suitable amino acid profile to support the maintenance and development of muscle tissue. Its formulation is also designed to provide a greater proportion of dietary energy from fats, making it particularly interesting for horses with certain muscle metabolism disorders or difficulty maintaining body condition.
Unlike a targeted amino acid supplement such as Myostem Mass, HP Muscle is intended to form part of a comprehensive feeding program alongside suitable forage.
HP Muscle is available in 20 kg bags.
Advice from the equine veterinarian
As a veterinarian specializing in equine sports medicine, I consider both the training program and the quality of dietary protein and energy supply when evaluating muscle development in horses.
My recommendation is to start by assessing the quantity and quality of forage, together with the supply of essential amino acids in the overall diet.
When targeted nutritional support for muscle development is desirable, Myostem Mass may be a valuable addition. For horses that also require a specialized energy and feeding program, HP Muscle may be an appropriate choice.
Successful muscle development always requires the right combination of nutrition, adequate energy intake, appropriate training, and sufficient recovery.
